When one desires to wash his back by the use of a piece of cloth such as a towel in a bathroom, he will scrub his back with the towel by stretching the towel between his hands and moving the thus stretched towel alternately in the opposite directions aslant on his back. In doing so, he grasps one end portion of the towel above one of his shoulders and the other end portion of the towel under the other shoulder, thus raising one of his arms above one shoulder and bending the other of the arms under the other shoulder. Such motions of the arms produce adjacent the blade bone on the side of the raised arm a hollow area which is difficult of access by the towel applied to the back and which cannot be therefore washed sufficiently clean. An easy expedient to obviate such an inconvenience is to make a knot in the middle of a towel and to move the towel in such a manner that the knot in the towel fits in a hollow in the back and scrubs the hollowed area of the back. However, such an expedient causes another inconvenience in that, if the knot produced in the towel is too tight, it is difficult to untie the knot after use of the towel. Various washing implements have therefore been devised which are adapted to facilitate or even tailored to the washing of hollow areas to be produced in the backs of those who wish to wash their backs sufficiently clean during bathing. Typical examples of the prior-art washing implements of this nature are disclosed in Japanese Published Utility Model Applications Nos. 52-95573 and 52-137980 and Japanese Published Utility Models Nos. 48-31743 and 48-32744. Almost every one of the prior-art washing implements disclosed therein consists of a body of sponge having two strings or strips of cloth fastened to the sponge body and extending in opposite directions from the sponge body. A washing implement of this type is as useful as a knotted towel but has problems that the strips or strings thereof are too thin to permit the user of the implement to manage it at his command and that the strips or strings tend to abrade the skin around his shoulders. When, furthermore, the conventional washing implement is used for the washing of any areas other than the back of the user's or another person's body, the strips or strings attached to the sponge body become useless and cumbersome additions.
The present invention contemplates resolution of these problems which have thus far been inherent in known washing implements of the described general nature and aims at provision of an improved washing implement which is useful not only when used indepently of other washing implements such as towels or washcloths but especially when used in combination with a towel or an elongated washcloth for facilitating the user of the towel or washcloth to scrub a hollow area to be produced in his back during bathing.